Hillary Clinton is clearly winning this election because she has already declared that after three debates, she no longer has to respond to Donald Trump's attacks, Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. "Yes, Hillary says she's not giving any thought to what Donald Trump says, so that makes both of them now." This gave Colbert a crazy idea: "Trump clearly feeds on attention, so this might work. By denying it to him, we can starve him out. So I pledge, I pledge right now I will spend the rest of the monologue not talking about Donald Trump."
That vow lasted for maybe 30 seconds. Then Colbert turned to Trump's big speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, which started out strong enough, with talk of healing a divided nation. "It's true: America is divided between those who think Trump will lose because the election is rigged, and those who think he'll lose because it is not," Colbert said, noting that after about 45 seconds, Trump launched into a diatribe against the women who have accused him of groping and other unwanted sexual advances.
"I can't believe that he would go to Gettysburg and give a speech that was so far from the spirit of the Gettysburg Address," Colbert said. "It is just ridiculous." The ghost of Abraham Lincoln appeared and told Colbert he was wrong, that Trump's speech was actually very similar to the first draft of his famous address. "My advisers made me tone it down, would you like to hear of it?" Lincoln's Ghost said. And you know, the ghost of Abe Lincoln was right: That first draft did have a notable Trumpian quality to it. Watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: August 23, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
